Form and Substance in: A Comparative Study of Legal Reasoning, Legal Theory, and Legal Systems

Author: Atiyah et al. (USA)
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Features: This book aims to discuss a series of important issues related to reasoning, legal theory, legal systems, and legal systems, and to deepen the understanding of these issues through a comparative approach. The book conducts a comparative analysis of the legal reasoning, legal theory, and legal systems of the United Kingdom and the United States through a comparative method. It delves into the historical traditions, political cultures, and public psychology of the two countries, seeking the profound roots of the differences in legal reasoning, legal theory, and legal systems. The authors summarize the main differences between the two countries as the formality of British law and the substance of American law. From the authors' methodology, it is a perfect combination of form and substance—both providing evidence-based empirical analysis and appropriately applying substantive reasoning methods. The research in this book involves both legal theory and comparative law, focusing on the main differences in the overall style of legal characteristics and legal reasoning that we believe exist between the United Kingdom and the United States—what we respectively call "formal" and "substantive." In the process of confirming and explaining these differences, we feel it is necessary to establish a rather sophisticated theoretical framework (a fairly elaborate theoretical apparatus) as a characteristic or attribute of the legal system, and we hope this itself is an original contribution to legal theory. If our conclusions about the differences between British and American law are correct, then this is also a contribution to comparative law research. By observing the overall characteristics of British and American law through the distinction between "form and substance," readers can gain a deeper understanding of these two legal systems.